Roland Garros 2014 - Rafa and Maria are the champs!

[zep1706]

Kiddo, stop making strawman arguments. nobody said rafa nadal is a world #1 because of doping. People are saying that Rafa Nadal has REMAINED world #1 and relevant to tennis due to doping. Ie, he got there due to his skills and brutal game that many predicted would break his body. That came to be, he broke his body. Then his 'amazing recovery' is what kept him in the ATG hunt- which is what he accomplished by doping IMO. Get your allegations right, sonny. Purile to the fans of the dope cheats maybe. But to most people, coming back to physical best in a very demanding physical sport after a serious injury in lightning quick span, with amazing performance against the best in the business, is always shady. Such rumours have swirled around such amazing physical specimens because they are, as history proves it, odds-on, dope cheats. The ones who are not the dope cheats, simply have to accept that it is part of the territorry of being such amazing physical freaks.

Stop begging for my attention. Shoo!

[Muloghonto]

Stop begging for my attention. That was for someone else. Shoo!

:haha::haha::haha::haha: A kid who cant keep his word for a minute is truely, amusing. Should you ever come out to the north-west coast, i will try and arrange a playdate with you and kids from my daughter's school. You'd fit in! They change their minds every 5 seconds like you.

[zep1706]

I think this thread should be removed from sticky now, it has served its purpose--happiness for some, agony for some. :P

[Raghav_12]

This is so ridiculous that people are accusing arguably greatest tennis player of all time of being drug cheat just because he can do things what others can't. Without any kind of substance such kind of accusations are extremely puerile and should invite a warning or ban for few days.

[vvvslaxman]

This is so ridiculous that people are accusing arguably greatest tennis player of all time of being drug cheat just because he can do things what others can't. Without any kind of substance such kind of accusations are extremely puerile and should invite a warning or ban for few days.

I am a big fan of Fed too. But i have immense respect for Rafa. Infact whenever i want improve my fitness level i look upto guys like Nadal. Incredible. I remmeber Younis khan doing push ups after he reached 250 or so indicating that he still has juice. I like such guys. Rafa is one of them. Inspiring dude. Following him on FB for a while. ery simple and likable guy. But lot of Indians hate him because he wins them all.

[vvvslaxman]

You guys have to pay attention to what kind of workout regime he is following. Besides genetics that is also a key aspect. He spends lot of time in stretching.

[zep1706]

This is so ridiculous that people are accusing arguably greatest tennis player of all time of being drug cheat just because he can do things what others can't. Without any kind of substance such kind of accusations are extremely puerile and should invite a warning or ban for few days.

That is called desperation and height of insecurity. Just because he was able to reclaim the #1 rank essentially by playing well on clay (on which he has been better than the field for 10 straight years) and then build on that success on hard courts, he must be doing drugs. It's like accusing Usain Bolt for being a superior athlete. No matter how much you train you can never be like him unless you are gifted as an athlete. Sampras stayed #1 for 6 straight years and Federer for more than 4 years without dropping for a week. Wonder why the stupid jerks don't sense anything sinister in that. Nadal is an excellent athlete and he has good family background as his uncle (Miguel Angel Nadal) was equally good physically. I have seen Nadal's practice session at Cincinnati and the intensity of his practice sessions are twice harder than those of the rest of the players. I don't think anyone works harder than him in tennis. His practice sessions are much more physically demanding than the actual matches. And he has been doing that for the last 15 years. So it is unfortunate that dumb keyboard warriors start accusing him without any evidence. The doping accusations actually makes it easier to ignore the morons. As I said before, it devalues rest of their arguments too.

[zep1706]

I am a big fan of Fed too. But i have immense respect for Rafa. Infact whenever i want improve my fitness level i look upto guys like Nadal. Incredible. I remmeber Younis khan doing push ups after he reached 250 or so indicating that he still has juice. I like such guys. Rafa is one of them. Inspiring dude. Following him on FB for a while. ery simple and likable guy. But lot of Indians hate him because he wins them all.

I have absolutely no problem if someone claims that Federer is the greatest ever. He has achieved so much that, many of his achievements would probably never be repeated again. I just don't understand this senseless hatred from some people. It is understandable if teenage girls show such behavior. But grown up men acting like imbeciles and using every excuse they could find to put down Nadal, even calling him a doper and whatnot without any evidence is hard to understand. That is slander not criticism.

[zep1706]

You guys have to pay attention to what kind of workout regime he is following. Besides genetics that is also a key aspect. He spends lot of time in stretching.

Genetics play a very important part. You can only go so far with training. Nadal is lucky to have good family background. But the workout regime is extremely important. Djokovic has a skinny frame and his main focus is increasing endurance and flexibility than muscle mass. He has a problem with extreme hit and very sunny conditions but overall from 2010-11 he is as fit as Nadal. He was able to play more than 10 hours of tennis in less than 48 hour interval and come out on top in 2012 against Nadal in Australia. Nadal has declined physically. There is no doubt about that. He is not as fast as he used to be and his endurance has also decreased. But it's still better than most of the other players. When he was younger he used to lift weights and try to increase muscle mass but after those knee injuries he has made a conscious decision to get leaner, he is not as bulky now as he used to be before. So I think his main focus now is doing cardio stretching and playing tennis instead of lifting weights. Djokovic does more stretching than anyone else, his body is built like a gymnast's body. There are many videos on youtube about their workout routines.

[Yoda-esque]

I have absolutely no problem if someone claims that Federer is the greatest ever. He has achieved so much that' date=' many of his achievements would probably never be repeated again. I just don't understand this senseless hatred from some people. It is understandable if teenage girls show such behavior. But grown up men acting like imbeciles and using every excuse they could find to put down Nadal, even calling him a doper and whatnot without any evidence is hard to understand. That is slander not criticism.[/quote'] Agree.

[zep1706]

Agree.

:hatsoff:

[zep1706]

Apparently Novak was presented with the wrong plate on Sunday http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/06/novak-djokovic-french-open-trophy And this was not the first time they have done that. :hysterical: http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/blog/busted_racquet/post/Oops-French-Open-officials-gave-runner-up-the-w?urn=ten-wp1335

[maniac]

This is so ridiculous that people are accusing arguably greatest tennis player of all time of being drug cheat just because he can do things what others can't. Without any kind of substance such kind of accusations are extremely puerile and should invite a warning or ban for few days.

Tennis is one of the most gruelling sports that takes a toll on your body,Nadal is a 28 year old guy competing with some guys who are way younger than him and have never had Career threatening injuries like he did. Yet each time he came back from an injury,he just gets more freakishly stronger which is surprising for a guy who has suffered those many injuries especially messed up knees. Take any sport,once you have a career threatening injury when you are in your peak,you are just not the same when you come back...might show a glimpses of brilliance once in a while but you lose some of your shine. If he was a miracle of nature and a freak,he wouldn't suffer such injuries to begin with,His body rehabillatates almost like he is some kind of a super hero :hatsoff: I like Nadal,very humble and gracious champion and would like to beleive he is winning everything on his own without any shortcuts but yeah given what I have said above,it is easy to suspect something fishy. Take a look at Armstrong everyone thought he was a freak of nature too,battling 3 different cancers to acheive what he did but eventually we found out there are no real life superheroes. Also what are the ATP testing standards,If Agassi can play on Crystal Meth and Hingis while she had a Coke problem,than how easy it is to abuse illegal performance enhancing substances?

[zep1706]

Yet each time he came back from an injury,he just gets more freakishly stronger which is surprising for a guy who has suffered those many injuries especially messed up knees.

You probably don't follow tennis closely, but Nadal DOES NOT look stronger than before. In fact he looks a step slower and he huffs & puffs a lot more in longer matches. If you see the threads before Roland Garros even Federer fans were saying that at that time. Thankfully his main competitors are also of the same age or older now. He compensates his loss of physicality with better tactics now. He is much more aggressive from the baseline than he was in his younger days. He hits the DTL FH much more now a days to finish the points quicker. He also comes to the net a lot more. In the 2008 Wimbledon final he properly volleyed only once in the match. Now a days he volleys much more even on clay. He has also developed the DTL BH to beat Novak after 2011. That shot was not even in his repertoire before that.

Take any sport,once you have a career threatening injury

His knee injury was not a career threatening sudden injury. It's a chronic condition and he has been playing with it all his life. With age it got worse. His break in 2012-13 was not because of any sudden change but they realized that he needed a long break to prolong his career and get long term treatment on the same problem. You are speaking without proper knowledge of the situation.

Take a look at Armstrong everyone thought he was a freak of nature too,battling 3 different cancers to acheive what he did but eventually we found out there are no real life superheroes.

Tennis is not cycling. You win it with superior game and tactic on most occasions. Very few matches go to the limit.

Also what are the ATP testing standards,If Agassi can play on Crystal Meth and Hingis while she had a Coke problem,than how easy it is to abuse illegal performance enhancing substances?

Crystal meth and coke are not PEDs and they did nto take those regularly to get caught. Nadal was tested 7 times during his absence. He has never failed a drug test at any level. There is nothing fishy if you have followed tennis and his career closely. http://www.tennisworldusa.org/ATP---Rafael-Nadal-has-undergone-drug-testing-six-or-seven-times-ahead-of-his-return-articolo8198.html

[yoda]

You can't accuse someone of doping without any evidence. Just because he is fitter than the rest doesn't mean he is a dopey. Clay court wins OTH :winky:

[vamos_rafa]

You should read his book Rafa my story to understand the kind of regime he has been following since the age of 6 to understand his fitness levels. Besides, he's a natural athlete.

[Raghav_12]

Tennis is one of the most gruelling sports that takes a toll on your body,Nadal is a 28 year old guy competing with some guys who are way younger than him and have never had Career threatening injuries like he did. Yet each time he came back from an injury,he just gets more freakishly stronger which is surprising for a guy who has suffered those many injuries especially messed up knees. Take any sport,once you have a career threatening injury when you are in your peak,you are just not the same when you come back...might show a glimpses of brilliance once in a while but you lose some of your shine. If he was a miracle of nature and a freak,he wouldn't suffer such injuries to begin with,His body rehabillatates almost like he is some kind of a super hero :hatsoff: I like Nadal,very humble and gracious champion and would like to beleive he is winning everything on his own without any shortcuts but yeah given what I have said above,it is easy to suspect something fishy. Take a look at Armstrong everyone thought he was a freak of nature too,battling 3 different cancers to acheive what he did but eventually we found out there are no real life superheroes. Also what are the ATP testing standards,If Agassi can play on Crystal Meth and Hingis while she had a Coke problem,than how easy it is to abuse illegal performance enhancing substances?

If you think he is at the same fitness level as he was 4 years ago or so, then you definitely not following his game. He is definitely a lot slower in his court movements. His back-hand has lost all of its strength which at times becomes cannon fodder for opponents as we saw in first set of the match with Djokovic couple of days ago. He plays more aggressive, doesn't leave baseline and don't just rely on retrieving everything. He very well takes cognizance of the fact that his physical powers are waning and might not be a force in few years. In some aspect he is like Sachin who keeps evolving his game to stay in tune with his body. Sachin could achieve greatest level of success between 2007 and 2011 WC's despite having career threatening injuries in 2005 to 2007. He changed his game and succeded, on the other great Ponting failed to change his game and didn't achieve any success after 2006 or so. This line of attack on Rafa is so devoid of merit that it takes away any credibility away from arguments which otherwise could have been meritorious. It clearly exposes sense of hatred, sheer desperation and lack of flexibility in thought process. Why nobody questioned Djokovic when he played for 11 hours in 48 hours against players of the caliber of Murray and Nadal and topped both? It's sheer absurdity and fishing in boiling water.

[bones]

You should read his book Rafa my story to understand the kind of regime he has been following since the age of 6 to understand his fitness levels. Besides' date= he's a natural athlete.

A natural athlete who has had many injuries? Injured only to come back an even better player than before the injury? Stop being so ignorant. Sportsmen all over the world suffer minor injuries and come back as good as they were. But never does a sportsman suffer a severe injury and come back twice the player he was before. As for reading his book, if it's anything like his sub-standard interviews pre and post matches, I think you're better served reading Nursery school poems.

[vamos_rafa]

A natural athlete who has had many injuries? Injured only to come back an even better player than before the injury? Stop being so ignorant. Sportsmen all over the world suffer minor injuries and come back as good as they were. But never does a sportsman suffer a severe injury and come back twice the player he was before. As for reading his book, if it's anything like his sub-standard interviews pre and post matches, I think you're better served reading Nursery school poems.

You are trying to tell me that Natural athletes never get injured? If that's the case then the argument ends there itself. The nursery school poems are the one's which give you your maturity right? But, I read them at the right age.

[bones]

If you think he is at the same fitness level as he was 4 years ago or so' date=' then you definitely not following his game. He is definitely a lot slower in his court movements. His back-hand has lost all of its strength which at times becomes cannon fodder for opponents as we saw in first set of the match with Djokovic couple of days ago. He plays more aggressive, [b']doesn't leave baseline and don't just rely on retrieving everything. He very well takes cognizance of the fact that his physical powers are waning and might not be a force in few years. In some aspect he is like Sachin who keeps evolving his game to stay in tune with his body. Sachin could achieve greatest level of success between 2007 and 2011 WC's despite having career threatening injuries in 2005 to 2007. He changed his game and succeded, on the other great Ponting failed to change his game and didn't achieve any success after 2006 or so. This line of attack on Rafa is so devoid of merit that it takes away any credibility away from arguments which otherwise could have been meritorious. It clearly exposes sense of hatred, sheer desperation and lack of flexibility in thought process. Why nobody questioned Djokovic when he played for 11 hours in 48 hours against players of the caliber of Murray and Nadal and topped both? It's sheer absurdity and fishing in boiling water.

Firstly, if Nadal is playing from the baseline isn't he retrieving as well? I mean you can't be retrieving when you're at the net or serve volleying right? Nadal is playing more aggressive than he used, but the stats show he is still the most defensive of the top 4 and one of the most defensive players on tour, relying more than most on the UE of the opponents. There is an article and I will try and dig it up where it showed of the 8 Quarter finalists, Nadal was the player who earnt the most points due to UE and was hitting far less winners. He is a ugly style of tennis player, very ugly. Moonballing on the PC court and waiting for an easy short ball to put away. Secondly, you've used an example of Sachin which I think is a bad example because in cricket only a fast bowler's job is as gruelling as a tennis player's. Batsmen have it easy really. Regardless of that, you have even put down that it took over 2 years for Tendulkar to start scoring heavily again which further tells us that Nadal coming back from severe injuries and winning big titles so quickly is very suspicious. Even when Tendulkar was scoring heavily during that period, he was never the same player as he was earlier on. Thirdly, Novak in 2011/2012 was a different beast altogether. That's when he found a cure for his illness. Wasn't it so refreshing to see a guy who used to run out of gas in many matches, finally overcome this illness and be free to play tennis the way it should be? His wins in 2011/2012 were a joy to watch, lights out tennis of the highest order. But in that final in sets 4 and 5 there were times he was running out of gas, collapsed after a long rally as well. Nadal should have won that, but it wasn't because of Novak's fitness, it was his own choke when he missed an open court to go up a break in the final set. It's very sad when you think about it, what Novak could have achieved if they found out about his gluton issue earlier in his career. It's equally sad when you thnk about how much the tennis world has lost with DelPo's wrirst problems. Instead the tennis world must watch this "aggressive baseliner" (not a moonballer according to his fans) win tournaments.